Chapter 53
The hallway and classroom were a mess. Everyone was shouting, running, and nothing made sense until security showed up and finally caught the snake. Only then did things start to calm down. The student who fainted got rushed to the nurse’s office, while the one who got bitten was treated on the spot.
“Winnie, don’t be scared. I’m here.”
A middle-aged man hurried over, his gold-rimmed glasses slipping down his nose, a shine of baldness at the top of his head. His striped shirt was too loose and crumpled, tucked haphazardly into wrinkled dress pants that barely held back his big belly. From his belt dangled a huge ring of weird, noisy keys, knocking together with every step. He looked like he’d just walked out of a photo from the 80s.
“Why is there a snake in the classroom?”
Bald Lee, as everyone called him, slid a book from under his arm and looked at Winnie. His Mandarin was so clumsy it almost sounded made up. He was the homeroom teacher for Class A and taught physics to both A and B classes.
“The snake was in Charlotte’s desk. She had to have brought it,” Winnie sobbed, pointing at Charlotte with shaking hands, cheeks streaked with tears.
Charlotte had been quietly wiping her hands. She paused, then slowly looked up, her cool eyes meeting Bald Lee’s.
So it’s her.
Bald Lee recognized Charlotte right away. His face tightened, eyebrows pulling down in open disgust. She was that useless student, the one who only got in thanks to some connection. He still couldn’t believe the principal had let her stay. One person like her could ruin everything for the whole class.
“That’s not true. Charlotte didn’t bring the snake,” Shirley blurted out, jumping in before anyone else could speak. She looked right at Bald Lee, desperate to explain. She’d girls in
overheard Share cafeterie
plotting to give Charlotte a big
surprise” and, after listening more closely, realized they meant to scare her with a snake.
“If it wasn’t her, then who was it?” Winnie snapped, cutting Shirley off. Her eyes were red and angry. “Mr. Lee, everyone saw what happened. Charlotte wasn’t even scared. She played with the snake for ages. She’s from the countryside, she’s used to stuff like that. It had to be her.”
Shirley’s cheeks burned. “Mr. Lee, it was someone else… someone else put it there
“Enough.” Bald Lee’s patience ran out. He cut her off, voice sharp and full of irritation. “I thought you were just lazy. Now you’re picking up bad habits, hanging around with the wrong people?”
Back when Shirley won first place in the national physics competition, she’d gotten into Vanguard High
because of that. But after joining et
Class A, her physics grades kept dropping Lee never let her Bald forget it. He’d always thought she was just coasting by, maybe even that she’d cheated her way into the competition.
Shirley shrank under his glare. Her hands twisted in her skirt, her whole body trembling. She was scared, but she still pushed herself to speak up for Charlotte.
“Someone did it on purpose. It wasn’t Charlotte
“On purpose? She’s only just transferred here. No one even knows her yet. Why would anyone bother putting a snake in her desk?” Bald Lee gave a cold laugh. Hel asked, but his tone made it obvious he’d already decided Charlotte was to blame. A country girl who didn’t care about studying, bringing trouble into school… If she stayed, she’d just be a bad influence on everyone.
Shirley’s face went white. Charlotte was getting bullied just because she’d helped her. So many people at this school hated Charlotte that Shirley couldn’t even guess who had actually done it.